โšกLow Power Home Server
HomeBuildsHardwareOptimizationUse CasesPower Calculator
โšกLow Power Home Server

Your ultimate resource for building efficient, silent, and budget-friendly home servers. Discover the best hardware, optimization tips, and step-by-step guides for your homelab.

Blog

  • Build Guides
  • Hardware Reviews
  • Power & Noise
  • Use Cases

Tools

  • Power Calculator

Legal

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

ยฉ 2026 Low Power Home Server. All rights reserved.

โ† Back to Tools

๐Ÿ’พ Storage Power Planner

Calculate power consumption for your NAS or server storage configuration. Plan capacity vs power trade-offs.

Select Drives

๐Ÿ’ฟ Hard Disk Drives (HDD)

HDD 3.5" 2TB

Standard desktop HDD

4W idle

8W active

0

HDD 3.5" 4TB

Standard desktop HDD

5W idle

9W active

0

HDD 3.5" 8TB

High capacity HDD

6W idle

10W active

0

HDD 3.5" 12TB

High capacity HDD

6.5W idle

10W active

0

HDD 3.5" 16TB+

Enterprise capacity HDD

7W idle

11W active

0

WD Red Plus (Any)

NAS-optimized, quieter

3.5W idle

6.5W active

0

Seagate IronWolf (Any)

NAS-optimized

4W idle

7.5W active

0

HDD 2.5" 1TB

Laptop HDD

0.8W idle

2W active

0

HDD 2.5" 2TB

Laptop HDD

1W idle

2.5W active

0

๐Ÿ’ฝ SATA SSDs

SATA SSD 256GB

2.5" SATA SSD

0.2W idle

2.5W active

0

SATA SSD 512GB

2.5" SATA SSD

0.25W idle

3W active

0

SATA SSD 1TB

2.5" SATA SSD

0.3W idle

3.5W active

0

SATA SSD 2TB

2.5" SATA SSD

0.4W idle

4W active

0

SATA SSD 4TB

2.5" SATA SSD

0.5W idle

5W active

0

โšก NVMe SSDs

NVMe SSD 256GB

M.2 NVMe

0.4W idle

4W active

0

NVMe SSD 512GB

M.2 NVMe

0.5W idle

5W active

0

NVMe SSD 1TB

M.2 NVMe

0.6W idle

6W active

0

NVMe SSD 2TB

M.2 NVMe

0.8W idle

7W active

0

NVMe SSD 4TB

M.2 NVMe

1W idle

8W active

0

๐Ÿ”Œ Storage Controller

๐Ÿ˜ด Spin-Down Policy

Drives never spin down - fastest access

๐Ÿ“Š Power Summary

Add drives to see power estimates

Related Guides

Low Power NAS Building Guide

Build an energy-efficient NAS for 24/7 file storage

View all guides โ†’

๐Ÿ’ฟ HDD Power Tips

  • โ€ข 3.5" HDDs use 4-7W idle, 8-12W active per drive
  • โ€ข Spin-up can draw 20-35W briefly - size your PSU accordingly
  • โ€ข NAS drives (WD Red, IronWolf) use less power than desktop drives
  • โ€ข 2.5" HDDs use much less power but sacrifice capacity

โšก SSD Power Tips

  • โ€ข SATA SSDs are most power-efficient at idle (~0.3W)
  • โ€ข NVMe uses more power active but has better sleep states
  • โ€ข SSDs have no spin-up surge - easier on PSU
  • โ€ข Consider SSD for OS + HDD for bulk storage